The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

kids of Farm Six. Then he brought his two daughters and the ladies of the men who helped in a special trip and he brought Dr. George and Shelley with them but only because they were Emma’s grandparents. They were a little shocked to find themselves with this group and not with their friends of Farm One and a little confused.
“That’s a nice stone you have there, Shelley,” Harry admired her rose colored crystal the size of a cantaloupe and she grinned as she held it.
“I saw a bigger one but it was too high for me to reach, you should have ladders here for people, Harry,” she admonished him. He shrugged.
“Everyone saw the height of the caves, if they wanted to reach the top of the caves, they should have thought to bring ladders with them,” he told her. She nodded.
“That’s true, darling,” Dr. George who had a green crystal slightly larger than hers said as he stood next to them. He was wearing the biggest grin. She pouted.
“Well, let’s not tell the others about bringing ladders, I don’t want Linda getting a bigger crystal than mine,” she decided. Harry shook his head.
“Those other people from Farm One aren’t getting a tour of my caves,” he informed them and they both looked shocked.
“Why not, Harry, I thought you were giving everyone a tour of your crystal caves?” Dr. George asked. Harry shook his head again.
“Those people of Farm One are not my friends,” he informed them firmly. “They have spent the last ninety-three, no, hundred years or so calling me a fishy freak fagola and making fun of me and my children. Every time I turn around they are laughing at me and trying to make my life as miserable as they can so why should I reward their behavior with a tour of my caves and a sample of crystal? I’m tired of leaning over backwards and kissing their asses. I’ve tried for years to be as nice to them as I could and getting them to like me but its no use, they’re never going to like me no matter what I do and no matter how many times I save their sorry asses so I’m going to stop trying. They can all go to hell for all I care. Now I’ll give them energy crystals because I believe energy should be free but that’s all they’ll get out of me for free, everything else they want, they’ll have to pay for. And the only reason you two got the tour is because you’re Emma’s grandparents and you delivered my seven children, you two can stay over there with the other assholes of Farm One and go to hell with them. But you have a nice day Dr. George and enjoy your crystals.” Harry smiled and patted the older man on his shoulder and walked away.
“Well, I can’t wait to show Linda my crystal and tell her she won’t be getting one,” Shelley grinned at her husband who sighed.
“They can’t say they don’t deserve his dislike, they’ve treated him like shit and it’s about time he returned it,” he told her. She smiled and looked down at her crystal with pleasure.
A few days later Shelley invited all of the ladies over for coffee and put her and George’s crystals on gold pedestals in their living room with lights on them. They were really very beautiful and made the whole room light up. All of the ladies couldn’t help but notice them when they all came in and gushed over them and stood admiring them as Shelley brought out the silver coffee service and poured.
“Shelley, where did you get those crystals?” Linda demanded as she was handed her coffee in its fine china cup. Shelley smiled sweetly.
“Oh, we got those the other day when Harry took George and me on a tour of his caves,” she said just as sweet. All of the ladies gasped.
“He took you and George on a tour, why didn’t you call us and tell us, we would have come,” Myra practically shouted. Shelley shrugged.
“We didn’t know we were going to the caves, he only called George that morning and asked if we were doing anything and asked if we wanted to come over and when we got there Emma was there and off we flew to Savannah,” she explained. Violet shrugged.
“That’s alright, we’ll just go on the next tour,” she told them. But Shelley shook her head. They all looked at her.
“Why are you shaking your head?” June asked. Shelley sighed.
“Harry said he wasn’t taking any of you on a tour of his cave,” she informed them rather smugly. They all looked shocked.
“Why not, he said he was taking everyone on a tour,” Gloria stated. Shelley sighed.
“He told George and me that he was tired of all of the people of Farm One calling him that ‘fishy freak fagola’ and that you had all hated him for years and he didn’t understand why. After all, he had tried for years to get all of you to like him and he couldn’t understand why you didn’t. So he’s finally given up and said that if you didn’t like him then he didn’t like you and he’s not wasting any more of his time on you and why should he take people who hate him on a tour of his caves and let them drill a precious crystal out of them,” she explained. Linda gasped.
“But you and George live on Farm One and you hate him too,” she protested. Shelley nodded.
“Yes and he told us to go to hell too,” she informed them. “And the only reason we got a tour of the caves was because we are Emma’s grandparents and because George delivered his seven children, at least that’s what he told us.” She looked at her precious crystals and smiled. Gloria stood up.
“Well, if he took you on a tour because you’re Emma’s grandparents, then he’d better take me on a tour, I’m Emma’s mother for Christ’s sake,” she yelled and they all grinned as she stomped out of the house. Violet fumed and she stood up.
“Sissy and Jackson are his children’s grandparents, they’ll get a tour too and Jake and I will be on that tour, you can count on that,” she declared and stomped from the room. They all looked at one another and laughed.
“Maybe Jackson, Sissy and Jake will get a tour, but she’ll never see those caves,” Linda predicted. They laughed again.
Gloria and David got their tour because after all as they pointed out in the email they sent to Harry, they were Emma’s birth parents. The others did not. Harry informed them that they were liars and he didn’t give tours to liars and cheaters no matter who their children or grandchildren were. Besides he told Dr. Jackson in an email, the man called his precious grandsons ‘fishy freaks’ and his two granddaughters that ‘bird girl’ and that one ‘whose not mine’ so he didn’t deserve a tour based on that. He further informed them that Violet Jackson would never see the caves under any circumstance ever and she can stick her thumb up her ass and rotate as far as he was concerned. Jake laughed at that and his wife glared at him. He apologized immediately and said he had never heard Harry use such language, he must be really angry. Violet pouted.
“It’s been seven months for Pete’s sake, how long is he going to hold a grudge,” she snapped and he shrugged. It kind of delighted him to think Harry still loved him enough to still be so angry. It boasted his ego.
Winter came and Harry continued with his tour of Savannah only now he went on daily and live so everyone tuned their TV’s on from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon and Harry took them on a walking tour of the beautiful and majestic continent. They all loved him and his two dogs and the station got loads of email for him and his cell phone rang constantly with callers who asked him questions live on the air from three till four and he answered them directly to the camera and they loved him. Everyone loved him except the people who hated him and they hated him tremendously.
The Medford Zoo contacted him and they wanted him to bring back species of monkeys and other animals he saw for the people to see everyday and he almost refused until he saw the beautiful and realistic habitat they built and he captured examples of what he encountered and brought them back. They named their zoo the Henry Talbert Zoo in honor of him and this tickled him to no end. All of his kids came out for the grand opening and Harry signed autographs for hours and had his picture taken with a million smiling kids who liked to try on his pith helmet. Bo and Gertie had their picture taken with all of the kids and they had a ball being adored by the fans who all loved them.
“Harry’s a frigging movie star,” Violet snapped to Gloria as the two watched the smiling man sign autographs and meet his fans. The two woman made identical faces and walked away.
“I don’t see the attraction in watching a bunch of animals in cages,” Gloria remarked as they watched some monkeys swing from tree to tree. Violet giggled as two monkeys began mating. Gloria laughed.
“That looks just like Max and Jake at last weeks party,” she teased and Violet slapped her arm.
“My husband does not look like a monkey,” she protested and giggled. “His face sort of looks like that when he comes though,” she confessed and both women laughed. They walked around, got bored and went shopping.
“I hate that fucking little bastard, I need to get find a way to get even with him,” Violet said with a gleam in her eyes. Gloria laughed and sipped her wine.
“Haven’t you already done that, darling?” she asked dourly. They both giggled. Then Violet shook her head.
“No, this is different, he thinks he can shit all over all of us, we’ve got to fix his little ass,” she declared and they came up with a plan.
A few days later Harry got a call from Brian at the bank and he had to rush back from Savannah.
“We’ve got a serious money problem here, Harry,” he informed him and he showed him the low stack of bills in the vault. Harry frowned as he looked around.
“We printed twenty million dollars, where did it all go?” he asked the older man who frowned.
“All of those people from Farm One have been coming in and buying it up,” Brian informed him. Harry shook his head.
“What the hell kind of stupid game are they playing now, this is ridiculous, why do they want with all that cash laying around?” he wondered. Brian shook his head.
“I don’t know, but I do know we can’t use any of the gold in the vault to print more money, what if they decide to cash in the money for gold, then we’d be stuck with no gold to give them,” Brian told him. Harry grinned, now he got their stupid little plan.
“That’s what they’re doing, Brian, they’re